If you're running a large business and you don't have a plan in case a free resource provided by someone else goes away, you shouldn't be in business. It really is that simple.

“The market is merciless” is something a business should always keep in mind, at least when their existence isn’t guaranteed for some reason.

OP isn't talking about large businesses, they're talking about the hundreds of thousands of small businesses using WP Engine as a host.

Those small businesses are purchasing something from WP Engine. It's up to WP Engine to deliver, and it's ridiculous if a company that size fails to deliver because they were freeloading without having a backup plan in place. The fault is entirely on WP Engine (who sold the service) not Wordpress (who made no promises at all to WP Engine customers).

So it's okay for WordPress.org to damage a bunch of WordPress users because they're not customers of Automattic and therefore WordPress.org has no obligations to them?

It's this kind of blurring of lines between Automattic and the foundation that has people very very concerned here.

Yes it's OK. Free Software means that users have freedoms, not that the developer is obliged to provide them free services forever.

Got it. So Free Software means that the ostensibly-distinct foundation supporting the project can act to defend the interests of the for-profit entity run by the same person.

Yes, why not? If it's not something prohibited by the license, it is permitted.

Also, if open source companies wouldn't do it, some open source projects would never reach any kind of maturity if the company creating such project faces the competition who just live off the work of the original team who don't contribute back to the project.

They could move their sites over to the WordPress.com, can't they?

Since they offer competing services in the first place.

WPE isn't cheap and subscriptions are typically yearly contracts, so it's not that simple for those operating on a specific budget

WordPress.com is actually doing the exact shady things that WP Engine does. Confusing WordPress.org users that they need a paid account to run WordPress.

You need to pay for hosting right? Nothing new.

Sure WP also has some freemium model, but I do not consider that shady.

Have you seen the Automattic CEO talk (link to YT in other comment in this thread). I dont think he's in shady business: he's releasing loads of source code under the GPL!

He’s also using the foundations copyright to target the primary competitor to his for-profit business, demanding that they invest in the profits of the for-profit company, at the expense of the WordPress open-source community. None of this looks altruistic or for the good of wordpress.org.

Is that supposed to make this blatantly anti-competitive behaviour okay?

Sorry? Their service is... their service! They can extend of refuse service to whom they want.

Automattic is releasing source code, which, in my book, is being super friendly to competitors. It seems to me you are holding the good guys (that release under FLOSS licenses) to a higher standard than any other company that keeps the source to them selves.

WordPress.org is not "apparently" Automattic

That happens everywhere.

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*OVEEYB4H...

> Automattic is releasing source code, which, in my book, is being super friendly to competitors.

WordPress is a GPL project.

the code is GPL.

services (like the plugin registry, but there are many more) cannot be GPL. they are served by someone and that someone pays for hosting/bandwidth/etc and that someone is free to stop providing that service (to one party or all together).

How is it anti-competitive to stop people smashing your APIs? That shit costs money man. It's not free to provide web resources to hundreds of thousands of people.

WPE is essentially DDOSing WP for free. Obviously that shit doesn't fly. Either pay up or get your own server and host your own shit.

I dont know why you are down voted. I feel exactly the same about it.

Most likely my tone, but I'm frustrated because I don't even understand how this is a conversation.

If any one of us was hosting a FREE service and some corporation came around and hit us with hundreds of thousands of requests, we too would demand money or ban them. Any one of us. So I really, truly, don't understand why we're all sitting here having this conversation.

WPCOM is a very limited WordPress - much more limited than Mullenweg is accusing WP Engine of being.

The real competitor in Automattics portfolio is Pressable. Who are currently running a poaching campaign on their frontpage.

WordPress.com started out as a WordPressµ (WordPress Multi User) provider. Just a place for people to quickly start their own blogs, mainly hosted on a WordPress.com subdomain. To learn more about WordPress MU: https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_MU

"WordPress hosting" is a relatively new option on WordPress.com. Pressable is a more advanced WordPress hosting provider, built by Automattic.

Disclaimer: I work at Automattic.

Obviously you don’t have to answer, but it feels like with Pressable as a product, WPE suddenly became a big competitor to the bottom line. It is here where the optics suddenly become shady. Like WPE has been running like they do for years, and now suddenly it is a big problem? Like why now?

Personally I also don’t like that the .org suddenly becomes weaponized. If this can be done to WPE, it can be done to anyone else really.

Their title is fitting at least: "Truly Incredible WordPress Hosting by Pressable". Yes, it's hard to believe their antics.

And herein lies the conflict of interest. WordPress.org is acting in the interests of Automattic at the expense of the community.

If wordpress.com offered a good product then the likes of wpengine, kinsta, etc would never have gotten off the ground.